I am always so rushed in the mornings that I forget if I turned my gas range off or not. Then I have to turn around, go back in and check and then I'm even more late for work. My fail-safe is to put my pans back over the burner when I'm done with them. If I've left the burner on, the food residue in the pan would alert me to my idiocy by burning and smoking within a few minutes.

I would hang *several* notes - at least one around the stove and one on the entranceway door.

How does someone forget to turn off the flame?

Um, you don't mention if you've even discussed this with your roommate. I know the nature of apartment sharing can be such that people would rather find more passive-aggressive ways of dealing with issues, but it sure seems to me like the first thing to do would be to bring it up. Maybe she thought she'd turned off the burner but the knob is glitchy and she was wrong. Maybe she'd been going through a particularly stressful period and was naturally more forgetful. But I think it is pretty unreasonable to expect someone to remember to do something if you haven't told them they forgot to begin with.

"But I think it is pretty unreasonable to expect someone to remember to do something if you haven't told them they forgot to begin with."

Errr...I don't think turning off the stove is something that needs to be stated out loud before the rule is expected to be followed...???? It's not like they left the toilet seat up.

A particularly helpful trick I have used is to put rubber bands on the knobs, which get slid onto your wrist when you turn the burner or oven on, and returned to the knob when you turn it off. That way, if the rubber band is on your wrist, you know the burner is still on!

If you have ventilation above your stove, make a habit of always turning it on whenever using a burner. Turn it off only when the last burner is off.

Oh wow.

Before you get "cute" (though I like that rubber band trick, Sejica!) get real serious with this person. Have you spoken with him or her at all about this? "Hi. You've left the flame on twice, and that puts all of us, and our home, in danger. Please be more careful. Would you like us to post a STOVE OFF sign?" Then you can supply, whether it's true or not, something constructive, like "I always blah blah something" or "my parents taught me to somethingorother" to get a convo started on what memory or reminder trick might work for them, if they don't have one already (baffling...).

My dad read the status of ALL knobs on the stove/oven before stepping away from it: "off off off off off," in a row. Telling someone other than me to do that isn't going to work (they'd need a reminder for their new reminder device...); their solution needs to be natural, indigenous to THEM, in my opinion, to "take."

Island Monkey,

I am assuming this was an accident, meaning the person didn't realize they had done it. Of course the roommate knows the stove should be turned off, that doesn't preclude sometimes thinking you've done so when you haven't. It's pretty common with things you do regularly, because you're so used to doing it. I wouldn't imagine anyone but a cave-dweller would need to be informed that stoves actually don't stay on all the time.

RE:
"My fail-safe is to put my pans back over the burner when I'm done with them. If I've left the burner on, the food residue in the pan would alert me to my idiocy by burning and smoking within a few minutes."

I would be very careful with this! Having something on that flame that could burn or explode is exactly what can cause a house fire! If you run out the door before the food in that pot has started to smell burned, and then it catches fire while you're away, you could be setting yourself up for a tragedy!

Put a rubber band on each knob. If you turn on the stove, you put the rubber band on your wrist. Once you turn it off, the rubber band goes back on the knob.

That is scary as hell; I can't imagine going off and leaving a flame on. Even an electric stove shouldn't be forgotten about, but an actual flame?? I'd get rid of anyone in the house who doesn't have it together enough to remember to turn off the stove. No way would I live with someone that clueless/spacey.

If the flame was on, you shouldn't have smelled gas. Do you mean he left the gas on? With modern stoves, the gas automatically cuts off if the flame goes out.

Ugh, just went through something very similar with this (the roommate moved out a couch and left the front door wide open for anyone to walk in or rob the place). Not to be a debbie downer, but I had numerous instances of thoughtlessness - oven left on, windows open in the middle of winter, packages of meat forgotten in their bedroom until it spoiled (!!!). I finally came to the conclusion that they were never going to catch on, and unless I were their significant other I didn't have the time or patience to train them.

Hopefully your situation isn't that bad, but sometimes the only option is to look for another roommate.

There's this cool gadget...
http://www.stoveguardintl.com

It uses a motion detector, and if there's been no activity in the kitchen after a set period of time, it first sounds an alarm, then automatically shuts off the stove. Maybe overkill for a roommate-type situation, but a great idea for some.

I have left the flame on for like... an extra five minutes during a particularly panicked dinner - but it's not something I've ever left the house doing.
Anyway, I don't smell gas when the flame is on so I would talk to the roomie and see how this could have happened. The rubber band trick might work but if you do have a glitchy range it's good to know. I lived with a glitchy old range where the pilot light would constantly go out and there wasn't a shut off function for the gas. The same stove sometimes went full power in the middle of cooking at a low to med. low setting.

Slightly different, but same concept: I often will forget I have something in the oven til I can smell it. So I leave the oven light on, and set a noisy timer. Even if I don't need the timer for cooking itself, it reminds me to turn things off when I'm done/put the leftovers away.

put a motion detector on the stove, and turn it on when you aren't around, so that it makes a loud noise like "STOVE LEFT ON!" (as cynmyn stated above.), that should make them learn. May be expensive, cheaper way is post-it notes <but uglier.>

Final suggestion as others suggested, just confront them kindly, and hopefully it stops :)

My method of remembering to turn off the stove is to ALWAYS turn off the burner immediately before removing the pan.

I also turn off the oven immediately before removing what's inside it (unless I'm having a baking marathon - then I turn it off when I remove the last batch).

Like other commenters have said, avoid being passive aggressive. In my experience with roommates, passive aggressiveness can be counter productive and annoying. Have a serious conversation before resorting to sticky notes.

Here in South Korea my apartment has a safety feature for the whole range: in order to turn it on you must first turn on the gas pipe to the stove which is on a timer. As the timer approaches zero, it alerts the user, (so they can re-adjust the time if they are still cooking...) otherwise it will turn off all gas to the stove once its alert finishes. A timer valve should not be difficult to find and its a really good safety feature over all when using gas ranges.

Oh my... I don't even know what to say other than that person NEEDS to sort it out. My friend died from a fire in San Francisco. You really need to address this head on. It is literally life and death.

I'd make them pay for the fire insurance for the whole flat and the renter's insurance to boot. Sounds like they're the liability there...the money out of their pocket is certain to remind them.

first off, get renter's insurance. in your name, covering your belongings only. this might seem extreme but this way you're protected in the event something happens.

secondly? sit this roommate down. make the conversation deadly serious, because apartment fires are both deadly and serious. don't be passive-aggressive about this, and don't let this go any longer. have this conversation today.

third, insist they cook only when others are in the house, and everyone should get in the habit of checking the stove/oven before you leave and before you go to bed. even if you haven't touched it that day, check it. this will help keep everyone safe.

My husband has done this twice (once I got home at 6 p.m. to find it on--must have been on since 8 or 9 in the morning). I screamed at him. He does it again, he will be finding his own apartment. There is no way he will be living with our child and leaving the gas on. I'm perfectly willing to kick him out if he can't be safe. A roommate I would bounce in a second.

I turn on the hood light every time I turn on the stove. The light gets turned off when I turn off the stove. This way I won't forget that I have something simmering on the stove if I have to walk away.

I would get a new roommate or move....that's crazy

Third strike, the roommate is OUT.

If the flame is left on, it is just the flame burning off the gas so not in itself too dangerous. However, if there is a pot/pan on the flame... that creates significant potential for a fire!

BUT... if you are smelling gas, turn it off, open windows and get the hell out. Then evict the roommate immediately.

Hi all!

Thanks so much for everybody's comments. You've all put a lot of thought into this- as have I! I've actually implemented your suggestions prior to this question going live.
Background: this roomie has left the flame on but flame went out and gas stayed on. It's happened 2x in his first 3 mos.
Got renter's insurance for innocent roomie and myself the very next day! We're also removing the knobs after each time we cook and putting them in a mason jar. And made culprit install smoke + carbon monoxide detector right away. Of course, he busted a vintage kitchen clock in the process! Not to mention the SIX holes in the wall.
I'm glad to see that we all take this misstep VERY seriously- so I'm not alone! PHEW! I agree. 3x and he is out on the curb. Great to know I'm in good company with my reason.

Oh, not to mention the "this is serious" talk. I'm no passive aggressive Nelly. I tell it like it is. It's serious, dangerous, I'm terrified. I expect you'll take every action so that this never happens again.

Gina, i'm so relieved you're on top of this.

definitely punt the offender out if they can't get their act in gear.

Way to go, Gina! I hope the lesson sticks and that you won't have to find a new roommate - but BIG UPS to you for being ready to toss him for violating the safety of the house.

You know. I've done this.
I live alone so thankfully I wasn't endangering anyone else, and having done it, I freaked myself out good enough not to do it again. I just want to stick up for this clearly absentminded cook - I doubt he's *trying* to kill his roommates. I think I'm with NY2MIDMO. Also, as far as tips go: I clap when I turn everything off. I'm more aware of having made the sound than switched the knobs. That said, it sounds like Gina's got this one back under control : )

Lord. My parents were each burned out of homes as children - my father lost his own dad and a 4 year-old sister when he was six - so this little habit of your roommate's would make me insanely furious. Back when I had daycare centers I kept what my employees called a "Board of Gloom" in the kitchen that I filled with newspaper reports of unfortunate incidents that harmed/ killed children because their parents/teachers/caregivers were negligent. Horrible stuff, but the message to my staff was, "This does not happen here. Pay attention and keep our kids safe." My advice is to create an 11 x 14 inch collage of newspaper/magazine clippings of home fires and post it by the front door and explain that you hope it will serve as a reminder. Will he be angry? Of course, but you've created a home and a life for yourself - don't let someone "forgetful" burn it to the ground.